Unscripted narrative for affectively driven characters

Games for Empathy for Social Impact

“…The findings showed that "KiVa" significantly reduced both victimization and bullying, and it has also secondary effects on psychological symptoms and school climate [24], [25]. Aylett et al (2006) presented "FearNot!" application software (Fun with Empathic Agents to Achieve Novel Outcomes in Teaching), an immersive learning intervention aimed to help victims to escape victimization, and to reduce overall bullying and victimization.…”

“…One of the main aims of the software was to develop synthetic characters that could, through their appearances, behaviors and features allow the user to build empathic relations with them. The software's pedagogical objectives were met through the design and implementation of interactive, episodic and emergent Memarzia scenarios in a safe school-based Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) [26], [27], [28].…”

Using Narrative Cases to Author Interactive Story Content

“…Two notable projects that follow this approach are the I-Storytelling project [2] and the FearNot! project [1]. The IStorytelling project uses planning formalisms (Hierarchical Task Networks and Heuristic Search Planning) to define character behaviour.…”

“…The hierarchical definition of tasks and methods roughly corresponds with episodic structures present in simple stories [6] and thus allows for authoring goal-based story content where the real-time interaction of the character's goals allow story variability under the assumption that alternative plans of action are also authored. The focus on character behaviour is even more prevalent in the emergent narrative approach [1]. The FearNot!…”

“…A user who has freedom of interaction can make choices that conflict with the story intended by the author. This conflict is often referred to as the narrative paradox [1].…”